Dietary and Nutritional Supplementation for Painful Diabetic Neuropathy: A Narrative Review

Abstract

Painful diabetic neuropathy (PDN) is a serious and very common complication of diabetes mellitus (DM). It negatively affects the quality of life, increases morbidity and poses a financial burden on the health care system. Currently, treatment of PDN focuses on glycaemic control, while pathogenesis-oriented therapy has not yielded satisfactory results. The need to improve therapy remains. There is accumulating evidence on the potential benefit of nutritional interventions. The aim of this narrative review was to examine the potential benefit of dietary and nutritional supplementation for PDN management. According to preliminary research, supplementation with vitamin E, B-complex, omega 3 fatty acids, CoQ10 or N-acetylcysteine appears to yield promising results in improving PDN symptoms.